And now, assuming children of both sexes to have been born, it will be
proper for us to consider, in the next place, their nurture and education;
this cannot be left altogether unnoticed, and yet may be thought a subject
fitted rather for precept and admonition than for law. In private life
there are many little things, not always apparent, arising out of the pleasures
and pains and desires of individuals, which run counter to the intention
of the legislator, and make the characters of the citizens various and
dissimilar:-this is an evil in states; for by reason of their smallness
and frequent occurrence, there would be an unseemliness and want of propriety
in making them penal by law; and if made penal, they are the destruction
of the written law because mankind get the habit of frequently transgressing
the law in small matters. The result is that you cannot legislate about
them, and still less can you be silent. I speak somewhat darkly, but I
shall endeavour also to bring my wares into the light of day, for I acknowledge
that at present there is a want of clearness in what I am
saying.

Cleinias. Very true.
Athenian. Stranger. Am I not right in maintaining that a good
education is that which tends most, to the improvement of mind and
body?

Cle. Undoubtedly.
Ath. And nothing can be plainer than that the fairest bodies
are those which grow up from infancy in the best and straightest
manner?

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And do we not further observe that the first shoot of every
living thing is by far the greatest and fullest? Many will even contend
that a man at twenty-five does not reach twice the height which he attained
at five.

Cle. True.
Ath. Well, and is not rapid growth without proper and abundant
exercise the source endless evils in the body?

Cle. Yes.
Ath. And the body should have the most exercise when it receives
most nourishment?

Cle. But, Stranger, are we to impose this great amount of
exercise upon newly-born infants?

Ath. Nay, rather on the bodies of infants still
unborn.
Cle. What do you mean, my good sir? In the process of
gestation?
Ath. Exactly. I am not at all surprised that you have never
heard of this very peculiar sort of gymnastic applied to such little creatures,
which, although strange, I will endeavour to explain to
you.

Cle. By all means.
Ath. The practice is more easy for us to understand than for
you, by reason of certain amusements which are carried to excess by us
at Athens. Not only boys, but often older persons, are in the habit of
keeping quails and cocks, which they train to fight one another. And they
are far from thinking that the contests in which they stir them up to fight
with one another are sufficient exercise; for, in addition to this, they
carry them about tucked beneath their armpits, holding the smaller birds
in their hands, the larger under their arms, and go for a walk of a great
many miles for the sake of health, that is to say, not their own, health,
but the health of the birds; whereby they prove to any intelligent person,
that all bodies are benefited by shakings and movements, when they are
moved without weariness, whether motion proceeds from themselves, or is
caused by a swing, or at sea, or on horseback, or by other bodies in whatever
way moving, and that thus gaining the mastery over food and drink, they
are able to impart beauty and health and strength. But admitting all this,
what follows? Shall we make a ridiculous law that the pregnant woman shall
walk about and fashion the embryo within as we fashion wax before it hardens,
and after birth swathe the infant for two years? Suppose that we compel
nurses, under penalty of a legal fine, to be always carrying the children
somewhere or other, either to the temples, or into the country, or to their
relations, houses, until they are well able to stand, and to take care
that their limbs are not distorted by leaning on them when they are too
young-they should continue to carry them until the infant has completed
its third year; the nurses should be strong, and there should be more than
one of them. Shall these be our rules, and shall we impose a penalty for
the neglect of them? No, no; the penalty of which we were speaking will
fall upon our own heads more than enough.

Cle. What penalty?
Ath. Ridicule, and the difficulty of getting the feminine and
servant-like dispositions of the nurses to comply.

Cle. Then why was there any need to speak of the matter
at all?
Ath. The reason is that masters and freemen in states, when
they hear of it, are very likely to arrive at a true conviction that without
due regulation of private life in cities, stability in the laying down
of laws is hardly to be expected; and he who makes this reflection may
himself adopt the laws just now mentioned, and, adopting them, may order
his house and state well and be happy.

Cle. Likely enough.
Ath. And therefore let us proceed with our legislation until
we have determined the exercises which are suited to the souls of young
children, in the same manner in which we have begun to go through the rules
relating to their bodies.

Cle. By all means.
Ath. Let us assume, then, as a first principle in relation both
to the body and soul of very young creatures, that nursing and moving about
by day and night is good for them all, and that the younger they are, the
more they will need it; infants should live, if that were possible, as
if they were always rocking at sea. This is the lesson which we may gather
from the experience of nurses, and likewise from the use of the remedy
of motion in the rites of the Corybantes; for when mothers want their restless
children to go to sleep they do not employ rest, but, on the contrary,
motion-rocking them in their arms; nor do they give them silence, but they
sing to them and lap them in sweet strains; and the Bacchic women are cured
of their frenzy in the same manner by the use of the dance and of
music.

Cle. Well, Stranger, and what is the reason of
this?
Ath. The reason is obvious.
Cle. What?
Ath. The affection both of the Bacchantes and of the children
is an emotion of fear, which springs out of an evil habit of the soul.
And when some one applies external agitation to affections of this sort,
the motion coming from without gets the better of the terrible and violent
internal one, and produces a peace and calm in the soul, and quiets the
restless palpitation of the heart, which is a thing much to be desired,
sending the children to sleep, and making the Bacchantes, although they
remain awake, to dance to the pipe with the help of the Gods to whom they
offer acceptable sacrifices, and producing in them a sound mind, which
takes the place of their frenzy. And, to express what I mean in a word,
there is a good deal to be said in favour of this treatment.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. But if fear has such a power we ought to infer from these
facts, that every soul which from youth upward has been familiar with fears,
will be made more liable to fear, and every one will allow that this is
the way to form a habit of cowardice and not of courage.

Cle. No doubt.
Ath. And, on the other hand, the habit of overcoming, from our
youth upwards, the fears and terrors which beset us, may be said to be
an exercise of courage.

Cle. True.
Ath. And we may say that the use of exercise and motion in the
earliest years of life greatly contributes to create a part of virtue in
the soul.

Cle. Quite true.
Ath. Further, a cheerful temper, or the reverse, may be regarded
as having much to do with high spirit on the one hand, or with cowardice
on the other.

Cle. To be sure.
Ath. Then now we must endeavour to show how and to what extent
we may, if we please, without difficulty implant either character in the
young.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. There is a common opinion, that luxury makes the disposition
of youth discontented and irascible and vehemently excited by trifles;
that on the other hand excessive and savage servitude makes men mean and
abject, and haters of their kind, and therefore makes them undesirable
associates.

Cle. But how must the state educate those who do not as
yet understand the language of the country, and are therefore incapable
of appreciating any sort of instruction?

Ath. I will tell you how:-Every animal that is born is wont
to utter some cry, and this is especially the case with man, and he is
also affected with the inclination to weep more than any other
animal.

Cle. Quite true.
Ath. Do not nurses, when they want to know what an infant desires,
judge by these signs?-when anything is brought to the infant and he is
silent, then he is supposed to be pleased, but, when he weeps and cries
out, then he is not pleased. For tears and cries are the inauspicious signs
by which children show what they love and hate. Now the time which is thus
spent is no less than three years, and is a very considerable portion of
life to be passed ill or well.

Cle. True.
Ath. Does not the discontented and ungracious nature appear
to you to be full of lamentations and sorrows more than a good man ought
to be?

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. Well, but if during these three years every possible care
were taken that our nursling should have as little of sorrow and fear,
and in general of pain as was possible, might we not expect in early childhood
to make his soul more gentle and cheerful?

Cle. To be sure, Stranger-more especially if we could procure
him a variety of pleasures.

Ath. There I can no longer agree, Cleinias: you amaze me.
To bring him up in such a way would be his utter ruin; for the beginning
is always the most critical part of education. Let us see whether I am
right.

Cle. Proceed.
Ath. The point about which you and I differ is of great importance,
and I hope that you, Megillus, will help to decide between us. For I maintain
that the true life should neither seek for pleasures, nor, on the other
hand, entirely avoid pains, but should embrace the middle state, which
I just spoke of as gentle and benign, and is a state which we by some divine
presage and inspiration rightly ascribe to God. Now, I say, he among men,
too, who would be divine ought to pursue after this mean habit-he should
not rush headlong into pleasures, for he will not be free from pains; nor
should we allow any one, young or old, male or female, to be thus given
any more than ourselves, and least of all the newly-born infant, for in
infancy more than at any other time the character is engrained by habit.
Nay, more, if I were not afraid of appearing to be ridiculous, I would
say that a woman during her year of pregnancy should of all women be most
carefully tended, and kept from violent or excessive pleasures and pains,
and should at that time cultivate gentleness and benevolence and
kindness.

Cle. You need not, ask Megillus, Stranger, which of us has
most truly spoken; for I myself agree that all men ought to avoid the life
of unmingled pain or pleasure, and pursue always a middle course. And having
spoken well, may I add that you have been well answered?

Ath. Very good, Cleinias; and now let us all three consider
a further point.

Cle. What is it?
Ath. That all the matters which we are now describing are commonly
called by the general name of unwritten customs, and what are termed the
laws of our ancestors are all of similar nature. And the reflection which
lately arose in our minds, that we can neither call these things laws,
nor yet leave them unmentioned, is justified; for they are the bonds of
the whole state, and come in between the written laws which are or are
hereafter to be laid down; they are just ancestral customs of great antiquity,
which, if they are rightly ordered and made habitual, shield and preserve
the previously existing written law; but if they depart from right and
fall into disorder, then they are like the props of builders which slip
away out of their Place and cause a universal ruin-one part drags another
down, and the fair super-structure falls because the old foundations are
undermined. Reflecting upon this, Cleinias, you ought to bind together
the new state in every possible way, omitting nothing, whether great or
small, of what are called laws or manners or pursuits, for by these means
a city is bound together, and all these things are only lasting when they
depend upon one another; and, therefore, we must not wonder if we find
that many apparently trifling customs or usages come pouring in and lengthening
out our laws.

Cle. Very true: we are disposed to agree with
you.
Ath. Up to the age of three years, whether of boy or girl, if
a person strictly carries out our previous regulations and makes them a
principal aim, he will do much for the advantage of the young creatures.
But at three, four, five, and even six years the childish nature will require
sports; now is the time to get rid of self-will in him, punishing him,
but not so as to disgrace him. We were saying about slaves, that we ought
neither to add insult to punishment so as to anger them, nor yet to leave
them unpunished lest they become self-willed; and a like rule is to be
observed in the case of the free-born. Children at that age have certain
natural modes of amusement which they find out for themselves when they
meet. And all the children who are between the ages of three and six ought
to meet at the temples the villages, the several families of a village
uniting on one spot. The nurses are to see that the children behave properly
and orderly-they themselves and all their companies are to be under the
control of twelve matrons, one for each company, who are annually selected
to inspect them from the women previously mentioned, [i.e., the women who
have authority over marriage], whom the guardians of the law appoint. These
matrons shall be chosen by the women who have authority over marriage,
one out of each tribe; all are to be of the same age; and let each of them,
as soon as she is appointed, hold office and go to the temples every day,
punishing all offenders, male or female, who are slaves or strangers, by
the help of some of the public slaves; but if any citizen disputes the
punishment, let her bring him before the wardens of the city; or, if there
be no dispute, let her punish him herself. After the age of six years the
time has arrived for the separation of the sexes-let boys live with boys,
and girls in like manner with girls. Now they must begin to learn-the boys
going to teachers of horsemanship and the use of the bow, the javelin,
and sling, and the girls too, if they do not object, at any rate until
they know how to manage these weapons, and especially how to handle heavy
arms; for I may note, that the practice which now prevails is almost universally
misunderstood.

Cle. In what respect?
Ath. In that the right and left hand are supposed to be by nature
differently suited for our various uses of them; whereas no difference
is found in the use of the feet and the lower limbs; but in the use of
the hands we are, as it were, maimed by the folly of nurses and mothers;
for although our several limbs are by nature balanced, we create a difference
in them by bad habit. In some cases this is of no consequence, as, for
example, when we hold the lyre in the left hand, and the plectrum in the
right, but it is downright folly to make the same distinction in other
cases. The custom of the Scythians proves our error; for they not only
hold the bow from them with the left hand and draw the arrow to them with
their right, but use either hand for both purposes. And there are many
similar examples in charioteering and other things, from which we may learn
that those who make the left side weaker than the right act contrary to
nature. In the case of the plectrum, which is of horn only, and similar
instruments, as I was saying, it is of no consequence, but makes a great
difference, and may be of very great importance to the warrior who has
to use iron weapons, bows and javelins, and the like; above all, when in
heavy armour, he has to fight against heavy armour. And there is a very
great difference between one who has learnt and one who has not, and between
one who has been trained in gymnastic exercises and one who has not been.
For as he who is perfectly skilled in the Pancratium or boxing or wrestling,
is not unable to fight from his left side, and does not limp and draggle
in confusion when his opponent makes him change his position, so in heavy-armed
fighting, and in all other things if I am not mistaken, the like holds-he
who has these double powers of attack and defence ought not in any case
to leave them either unused or untrained, if he can help; and if a person
had the nature of Geryon or Briareus he ought to be able with his hundred
hands to throw a hundred darts. Now, the magistrates, male and female,
should see to all these things, the women superintending the nursing and
amusements of the children, and the men superintending their education,
that all of them, boys and girls alike, may be sound hand and foot, and
may not, if they can help, spoil the gifts of nature by bad
habits.

Education has two branches-one of gymnastic, which is concerned
with the body, and the other of music, which is designed for the improvement
of the soul. And gymnastic has also two branches-dancing and wrestling;
and one sort of dancing imitates musical recitation, and aims at preserving
dignity and freedom, the other aims at producing health, agility, and beauty
in the limbs and parts of the body, giving the proper flexion and extension
to each of them, a harmonious motion being diffused everywhere, and forming
a suitable accompaniment to the dance. As regards wrestling, the tricks
which Antaeus and Cercyon devised in their systems out of a vain spirit
of competition, or the tricks of boxing which Epeius or Amycus invented,
are useless and unsuitable for war, and do not deserve to have much said
about them; but the art of wrestling erect and keeping free the neck and
hands and sides, working with energy and constancy, with a composed strength,
and for the sake of health-these are always useful, and are not to be neglected,
but to be enjoined alike on masters and scholars, when we reach that part
of legislation; and we will desire the one to give their instructions freely,
and the others to receive them thankfully. Nor, again, must we omit suitable
imitations of war in our choruses; here in Crete you have the armed dances
if the Curetes, and the Lacedaemonians have those of the Dioscuri. And
our virgin lady, delighting in the amusement of the dance, thought it not
fit to amuse herself with empty hands; she must be clothed in a complete
suit of armour, and in this attire go through the dance; and youths and
maidens should in every respect imitate her, esteeming highly the favour
of the Goddess, both with a view to the necessities of war, and to festive
occasions: it will be right also for the boys, until such time as they
go out to war, to make processions and supplications to all the Gods in
goodly array, armed and on horseback, in dances, and marches, fast or slow,
offering up prayers to the Gods and to the sons of Gods; and also engaging
in contests and preludes of contests, if at all, with these objects: For
these sorts of exercises, and no others, are useful both in peace and war,
and are beneficial alike to states and to private houses. But other labours
and sports and exercises of the body are unworthy of freemen, O Megillus
and Cleinias.

I have now completely described the kind of gymnastic which I said
at first ought to be described; if you know of any better, will you communicate
your thoughts?

Cle. It is not easy, Stranger, to put aside these principles
of gymnastic and wrestling and to enunciate better ones.

Ath. Now we must say what has yet to be said about the gifts
of the Muses and of Apollo: before, we fancied that we had said all, and
that gymnastic alone remained; but now we see clearly what points have
been omitted, and should be first proclaimed; of these, then, let us proceed
to speak.

Cle. By all means.
Ath. Let me tell you once more-although you have heard me say
the same before that caution must be always exercised, both by the speaker
and by the hearer, about anything that is very singular and unusual. For
my tale is one, which many a man would be afraid to tell, and yet I have
a confidence which makes me go on.

Cle. What have you to say, Stranger?
Ath. I say that in states generally no one has observed that
the plays of childhood have a great deal to do with the permanence or want
of permanence in legislation. For when plays are ordered with a view to
children having the same plays, and amusing themselves after the same manner,
and finding delight in the same playthings, the more solemn institutions
of the state are allowed to remain undisturbed. Whereas if sports are disturbed,
and innovations are made in them, and they constantly change, and the young
never speak of their having the same likings, or the same established notions
of good and bad taste, either in the bearing of their bodies or in their
dress, but he who devises something new and out of the way in figures and
colours and the like is held in special honour, we may truly say that no
greater evil can happen in a state; for he who changes the sports is secretly
changing the manners of the young, and making the old to be dishonoured
among them and the new to be honoured. And I affirm that there is nothing
which is a greater injury to all states than saying or thinking thus. Will
you hear me tell how great I deem the evil to be?

Cle. You mean the evil of blaming antiquity in
states?
Ath. Exactly.
Cle. If you are speaking of that, you will find in us hearers
who are disposed to receive what you say not unfavourably but most
favourably.

Ath. I should expect so.
Cle. Proceed.
Ath. Well, then, let us give all the greater heed to one another's
words. The argument affirms that any change whatever except from evil is
the most dangerous of all things; this is true in the case of the seasons
and of the winds, in the management of our bodies and the habits of our
minds-true of all things except, as I said before, of the bad. He who looks
at the constitution of individuals accustomed to eat any sort of meat,
or drink any drink, or to do any work which they can get, may see that
they are at first disordered by them, but afterwards, as time goes on,
their bodies grow adapted to them, and they learn to know and like variety,
and have good health and enjoyment of life; and if ever afterwards they
are confined again to a superior diet, at first they are troubled with
disorders, and with difficulty become habituated to their new food. A similar
principle we may imagine to hold good about the minds of men and the natures
of their souls. For when they have been brought up in certain laws, which
by some Divine Providence have remained unchanged during long ages, so
that no one has any memory or tradition of their ever having been otherwise
than they are, then every one is afraid and ashamed to change that which
is established. The legislator must somehow find a way of implanting this
reverence for antiquity, and I would propose the following way:-People
are apt to fancy, as I was saying before, that when the plays of children
are altered they are merely plays, not seeing that the most serious and
detrimental consequences arise out of the change; and they readily comply
with the child's wishes instead of deterring him, not considering that
these children who make innovations in their games, when they grow up to
be men, will be different from the last generation of children, and, being
different, will desire a different sort of life, and under the influence
of this desire will want other institutions and laws; and no one of them
reflects that there will follow what I just now called the greatest of
evils to states. Changes in bodily fashions are no such serious evils,
but frequent changes in the praise and censure of manners are the greatest
of evils, and require the utmost prevision.

Cle. To be sure.
Ath. And now do we still hold to our former assertion, that
rhythms and music in general are imitations of good and evil characters
in men? What say you?

Cle. That is the only doctrine which we can
admit.
Ath. Must we not, then, try in every possible way to prevent
our youth from even desiring to imitate new modes either in dance or song?
nor must any one be allowed to offer them varieties of
pleasures.

Cle. Most true.
Ath. Can any of us imagine a better mode of effecting this object
than that of the Egyptians?

Cle. What is their method?
Ath. To consecrate every sort of dance or melody. First we should
ordain festivals-calculating for the year what they ought to be, and at
what time, and in honour of what Gods, sons of Gods, and heroes they ought
to be celebrated; and, in the next place, what hymns ought to be sung at
the several sacrifices, and with what dances the particular festival is
to be honoured. This has to be arranged at first by certain persons, and,
when arranged, the whole assembly of the citizens are to offer sacrifices
and libations to the Fates and all the other Gods, and to consecrate the
several odes to gods and heroes: and if any one offers any other hymns
or dances to any one of the Gods, the priests and priestesses, acting in
concert with the guardians of the law, shall, with the sanction of religion
and the law, exclude him, and he who is excluded, if he do not submit,
shall be liable all his life long to have a suit of impiety brought against
him by any one who likes.

Cle. Very good.
Ath. In the consideration of this subject, let us remember what
is due to ourselves.

Cle. To what are you referring?
Ath. I mean that any young man, and much more any old one, when
he sees or hears anything strange or unaccustomed, does not at once run
to embrace the paradox, but he stands considering, like a person who is
at a place where three paths meet, and does not very well know his way-he
may be alone or he may be walking with others, and he will say to himself
and them, "Which is the way?" and will not move forward until he is satisfied
that he is going right. And this is what we must do in the present instance:-A
strange discussion on the subject of law has arisen, which requires the
utmost consideration, and we should not at our age be too ready to speak
about such great matters, or be confident that we can say anything certain
all in a moment.

Cle. Most true.
Ath. Then we will allow time for reflection, and decide when
we have given the subject sufficient consideration. But that we may not
be hindered from completing the natural arrangement of our laws, let us
proceed to the conclusion of them in due order; for very possibly, if God
will, the exposition of them, when completed, may throw light on our present
perplexity.

Cle. Excellent, Stranger; let us do as you
propose.
Ath. Let us then affirm the paradox that strains of music are
our laws (nomoi), and this latter being the name which the ancients gave
to lyric songs, they probably would not have very much objected to our
proposed application of the word. Some one, either asleep or awake, must
have had a dreamy suspicion of their nature. And let our decree be as follows:-No
one in singing or dancing shall offend against public and consecrated models,
and the general fashion among the youth, any more than he would offend
against any other law. And he who observes this law shall be blameless;
but he who is disobedient, as I was saying, shall be punished by the guardians
of the laws, and by the priests and priestesses. Suppose that we imagine
this to be our law.

Cle. Very good.
Ath. Can any one who makes such laws escape ridicule? Let us
see. I think that our only safety will be in first framing certain models
for composers. One of these models shall be as follows:-If when a sacrifice
is going on, and the victims are being burnt according to law-if, I say,
any one who may be a son or brother, standing by another at the altar and
over the victims, horribly blasphemes, will not his words inspire despondency
and evil omens and forebodings in the mind of his father and of his other
kinsmen?

Cle. Of course.
Ath. And this is just what takes place in almost all our cities.
A magistrate offers a public sacrifice, and there come in not one but many
choruses, who take up a position a little way from the altar, and from
time to time pour forth all sorts of horrible blasphemies on the sacred
rites, exciting the souls of the audience with words and rhythms and melodies
most sorrowful to hear; and he who at the moment when the city is offering
sacrifice makes the citizens weep most, carries away the palm of victory.
Now, ought we not to forbid such strains as these? And if ever our citizens
must hear such lamentations, then on some unblest and inauspicious day
let there be choruses of foreign and hired minstrels, like those hirelings
who accompany the departed at funerals with barbarous Carian chants. That
is the sort of thing which will be appropriate if we have such strains
at all; and let the apparel of the singers be, not circlets and ornaments
of gold, but the reverse. Enough of all this. I will simply ask once more
whether we shall lay down as one of our principles of
song-

Cle. What?
Ath. That we should avoid every word of evil omen; let that
kind of song which is of good omen be heard everywhere and always in our
state. I need hardly ask again, but shall assume that you agree with
me.

Cle. By all means; that law is approved by the suffrages
of us all.
Ath. But what shall be our next musical law or type? Ought not
prayers to be offered up to the Gods when we sacrifice?

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And our third law, if I am not mistaken, will be to the
effect that our poets, understanding prayers to be requests which we make
to the Gods, will take especial heed that they do not by mistake ask for
evil instead of good. To make such a prayer would surely be too
ridiculous.

Cle. Very true.
Ath. Were we not a little while ago quite convinced that no
silver or golden Plutus should dwell in our state?

Cle. To be sure.
Ath. And what has it been the object of our argument to show?
Did we not imply that the poets are not always quite capable of knowing
what is good or evil? And if one of them utters a mistaken prayer in song
or words, he will make our citizens pray for the opposite of what is good
in matters of the highest import; than which, as I was saying, there can
be few greater mistakes. Shall we then propose as one of our laws and models
relating to the Muses-

Cle. What?-will you explain the law more
precisely?
Ath. Shall we make a law that the poet shall compose nothing
contrary to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or beautiful, or good, which
are allowed in the state? nor shall he be permitted to communicate his
compositions to any private individuals, until he shall have shown them
to the appointed judges and the guardians of the law, and they are satisfied
with them. As to the persons whom we appoint to be our legislators about
music and as to the director of education, these have been already indicated.
Once more then, as I have asked more than once, shall this be our third
law, and type, and model-What do you say?

Cle. Let it be so, by all means.
Ath. Then it will be proper to have hymns and praises of the
Gods, intermingled with prayers; and after the Gods prayers and praises
should be offered in like manner to demigods and heroes, suitable to their
several characters.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. In the next place there will be no objection to a law,
that citizens who are departed and have done good and energetic deeds,
either with their souls or with their bodies, and have been obedient to
the laws, should receive eulogies; this will be very
fitting.

Cle. Quite true.
Ath. But to honour with hymns and panegyrics those who are still
alive is not safe; a man should run his course, and make a fair ending,
and then we will praise him; and let praise be given equally to women as
well as men who have been distinguished in virtue. The order of songs and
dances shall be as follows:-There are many ancient musical compositions
and dances which are excellent, and from these the newly-founded city may
freely select what is proper and suitable; and they shall choose judges
of not less than fifty years of age, who shall make the selection, and
any of the old poems which they deem sufficient they shall include; any
that are deficient or altogether unsuitable, they shall either utterly
throw aside, or examine and amend, taking into their counsel poets and
musicians, and making use of their poetical genius; but explaining to them
the wishes of the legislator in order that they may regulate dancing, music,
and all choral strains, according to the mind of the judges; and not allowing
them to indulge, except in some few matters, their individual pleasures
and fancies. Now the irregular strain of music is always made ten thousand
times better by attaining to law and order, and rejecting the honeyed Muse-not
however that we mean wholly to exclude pleasure, which is the characteristic
of all music. And if a man be brought up from childhood to the age of discretion
and maturity in the use of the orderly and severe music, when he hears
the opposite he detests it, and calls it illiberal; but if trained in the
sweet and vulgar music, he deems the severer kind cold and displeasing.
So that, as I was saying before, while he who hears them gains no more
pleasure from the one than from the other, the one has the advantage of
making those who are trained in it better men, whereas the other makes
them worse.

Cle. Very true.
Ath. Again, we must distinguish and determine on some general
principle what songs are suitable to women, and what to men, and must assign
to them their proper melodies and rhythms. It is shocking for a whole harmony
to be inharmonical, or for a rhythm to be unrhythmical, and this will happen
when the melody is inappropriate to them. And therefore the legislator
must assign to these also their forms. Now both sexes have melodies and
rhythms which of necessity belong to them; and those of women are clearly
enough indicated by their natural difference. The grand, and that which
tends to courage, may be fairly called manly; but that which inclines to
moderation and temperance, may be declared both in law and in ordinary
speech to be the more womanly quality. This, then, will be the general
order of them.

Let us now speak of the manner of teaching and imparting them,
and the persons to whom, and the time when, they are severally to be imparted.
As the shipwright first lays down the lines of the keel, and thus, as it
were, draws the ship in outline, so do I seek to distinguish the patterns
of life, and lay down their keels according to the nature of different
men's souls; seeking truly to consider by what means, and in what ways,
we may go through the voyage of life best. Now human affairs are hardly
worth considering in earnest, and yet we must be in earnest about them-a
sad necessity constrains us. And having got thus far, there will be a fitness
in our completing the matter, if we can only find some suitable method
of doing so. But what do I mean? Some one may ask this very question, and
quite rightly, too.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. I say that about serious matters a man should be serious,
and about a matter which is not serious he should not be, serious; and
that God is the natural and worthy object of our most serious and blessed
endeavours, for man, as I said before, is made to be the plaything of God,
and this, truly considered, is the best of him; wherefore also every man
and woman should walk seriously, and pass life in the noblest of pastimes,
and be of another mind from what they are at present.

Cle. In what respect?
Ath. At present they think that their serious suits should be
for the sake of their sports, for they deem war a serious. pursuit, which
must be managed well for the sake of peace; but the truth is, that there
neither is, nor has been, nor ever will be, either amusement or instruction
in any degree worth, speaking of in war, which is nevertheless deemed by
us to be the most serious of our pursuits. And therefore, as we say, every
one of us should live the life of peace as long and as well as he can.
And what is the right way of living? Are we to live in sports always? If
so, in what kind of sports? We ought to live sacrificing, and singing,
and dancing, and then a man will be able to propitiate the Gods, and to
defend himself against his enemies and conquer them in battle. The type
of song or dance by which he will propitiate them has been described, and
the paths along which he is to proceed have been cut for him. He will go
forward in the spirit of the poet:

Telemachus, some things thou wilt thyself find in thy heart, but
other things God will suggest; for I deem that thou wast not brought up
without the will of the Gods. And this ought to be the view of our alumni;
they ought to think that what has been said is enough for them, and that
any other things their Genius and God will suggest to them-he will tell
them to whom, and when, and to what Gods severally they are to sacrifice
and perform dances, and how they may propitiate the deities, and live according
to the appointment of nature; being for the most part puppets, but having
some little share of reality.

Megillus. You have a low opinion of mankind,
Stranger.
Ath. Nay, Megillus, be not amazed, but forgive me:-I was comparing
them with the Gods; and under that feeling I spoke. Let us grant, if you
wish, that the human race is not to be despised, but is worthy of some
consideration.

Next follow the buildings for gymnasia and schools open to all;
these are to be in three places in the midst of the city; and outside the
city and in the surrounding country, also in three places, there shall
be schools for horse exercise, and large grounds arranged with a view to
archery and the throwing of missiles, at which young men may learn and
practise. Of these mention has already been made, and if the mention be
not sufficiently explicit, let us speak, further of them and embody them
in laws. In these several schools let there be dwellings for teachers,
who shall be brought from foreign parts by pay, and let them teach those
who attend the schools the art of war and the art of music, and the children
shall come not only if their parents please, but if they do not please;
there shall be compulsory education, as the saying is, of all and sundry,
as far this is possible; and the pupils shall be regarded as belonging
to the state rather than to their parents. My law would apply to females
as well as males; they shall both go through the same exercises. I assert
without fear of contradiction that gymnastic and horsemanship are as suitable
to women as to men. Of the truth of this I am persuaded from ancient tradition,
and at the present day there are said to be countless myriads of women
in the neighbourhood of the Black Sea, called Sauromatides, who not only
ride on horseback like men, but have enjoined upon them the use of bows
and other weapons equally with the men. And I further affirm, that if these
things are possible, nothing can be more absurd than the practice which
prevails in our own country, of men and women not following the same pursuits
with all their strength and with one mind, for thus the state, instead
of being a whole, is reduced to a half, but has the same imposts to pay
and the same toils to undergo; and what can be a greater mistake for any
legislator to make than this?

Cle. Very true; yet much of what has been asserted by us,
Stranger is contrary to the custom of states; still, in saying that the
discourse should be allowed to proceed, and that when the discussion is
completed, we should choose what seems best, you spoke very properly, and
I now feel compunction for what I have said. Tell me, then, what you would
next wish to say.

Ath. I should wish to say, Cleinias, as I said before, that
if the possibility of these things were not sufficiently proven in fact,
then there might be an objection to the argument, but the fact being as
I have said, he who rejects the law must find some other ground of objection;
and, failing this, our exhortation will still hold good, nor will any one
deny that women ought to share as far as possible in education and in other
ways with men. For consider;-if women do not share in their whole life
with men, then they must have some other order of life.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And what arrangement of life to be found anywhere is preferable
to this community which we are now assigning to them? Shall we prefer that
which is adopted by the Thracians and many other races who use their women
to till the ground and to be shepherds of their herds and flocks, and to
minister to them like slaves?-Or shall we do as we and people in our part
of the world do-getting together, as the phrase is, all our goods and chattels
into one dwelling, we entrust them to our women, who are the stewards of
them, and who also preside over the shuttles and the whole art of spinning?
Or shall we take a middle course, in Lacedaemon, Megillus-letting the girls
share in gymnastic and music, while the grown-up women, no longer employed
in spinning wool, are hard at work weaving the web of life, which will
be no cheap or mean employment, and in the duty of serving and taking care
of the household and bringing up children, in which they will observe a
sort of mean, not participating in the toils of war; and if there were
any necessity that they should fight for their city and families, unlike
the Amazons, they would be unable to take part in archery or any other
skilled use of missiles, nor could they, after the example of the Goddess,
carry shield or spear, or stand up nobly for their country when it was
being destroyed, and strike terror into their enemies, if only because
they were seen in regular order? Living as they do, they would never dare
at all to imitate the Sauromatides, who, when compared with ordinary women,
would appear to be like men. Let him who will, praise your legislators,
but I must say what I think. The legislator ought to be whole and perfect,
and not half a man only; he ought not to let the female sex live softly
and waste money and have no order of life, while he takes the utmost care
of the male sex, and leaves half of life only blest with happiness, when
he might have made the whole state happy.

Meg. What shall we do, Cleinias? Shall we allow a stranger
to run down Sparta in this fashion?

Cle. Yes; for as we have given him liberty of speech we
must let him go on until we have perfected the work of
legislation.

Meg. Very true.
Ath. Then now I may proceed?
Cle. By all means.
Ath. What will be the manner of life among men who may be supposed
to have their food and clothing provided for them in moderation, and who
have entrusted the practice of the arts to others, and whose husbandry,
committed to slaves paying a part of the produce, brings them a return
sufficient for men living temperately; who, moreover, have common tables
in which the men are placed apart, and near them are the common tables
of their families, of their daughters and mothers, which day by day, the
officers, male and female, are to inspect-they shall see to the behaviour
of the company, and so dismiss them; after which the presiding magistrate
and his attendants shall honour with libations those Gods to whom that
day and night are dedicated, and then go home? To men whose lives are thus
ordered, is there no work remaining to be done which is necessary and fitting,
but shall each one of them live fattening like a beast? Such a life is
neither just nor honourable, nor can he who lives it fail of meeting his
due; and the due reward of the idle fatted beast is that he should be torn
in pieces by some other valiant beast whose fatness is worn down by brave
deeds and toil. These regulations, if we duly consider them, will never
be exactly carried into execution under present circumstances, nor as long
as women and children and houses and all other things are the private property
of individuals; but if we can attain the second-best form of polity, we
shall be very well off. And to men living under this second polity there
remains a work to be accomplished which is far from being small or insignificant,
but is the greatest of all works, and ordained by the appointment of righteous
law. For the life which may be truly said to be concerned with the virtue
of body and soul is twice, or more than twice, as full of toil and trouble
as the pursuit after Pythian and Olympic victories, which debars a man
from every employment of life. For there ought to be no bye-work interfering
with the greater work of providing the necessary exercise and nourishment
for the body, and instruction and education for the soul. Night and day
are not long enough for the accomplishment of their perfection and consummation;
and therefore to this end all freemen ought to arrange the way in which
they will spend their time during the whole course of the day, from morning
till evening and from evening till the morning of the next sunrise. There
may seem to be some impropriety in the legislator determining minutely
the numberless details of the management of the house, including such particulars
as the duty of wakefulness in those who are to be perpetual watchmen of
the whole city; for that any citizen should continue during the whole of
any night in sleep, instead of being seen by all his servants, always the
first to awake and get up-this, whether the regulation is to be called
a law or only a practice, should be deemed base and unworthy of a freeman;
also that the mistress of the house should be awakened by her handmaidens
instead of herself first awakening them, is what the slaves, male and female,
and the serving-boys, and, if that were possible, everybody and everything
in the house should regard as base. If they rise early, they may all of
them do much of their public and of their household business, as magistrates
in the city, and masters and mistresses in their private houses, before
the sun is up. Much sleep is not required by nature, either for our souls
or bodies, or for the actions which they perform. For no one who is asleep
is good for anything, any more than if he were dead; but he of us who has
the most regard for life and reason keeps awake as long he can, reserving
only so much time for sleep as is expedient for health; and much sleep
is not required, if the habit of moderation be once rightly formed. Magistrates
in states who keep awake at night are terrible to the bad, whether enemies
or citizens, and are honoured and reverenced by the just and temperate,
and are useful to themselves and to the whole state.

A night which is passed in such a manner, in addition to all the
above-mentioned advantages, infuses a sort of courage into the minds of
the citizens. When the day breaks, the time has arrived for youth to go
to their schoolmasters. Now neither sheep nor any other animals can live
without a shepherd, nor can children be left without tutors, or slaves
without masters. And of all animals the boy is the most unmanageable, inasmuch
as he has the fountain of reason in him not yet regulated; he is the most
insidious, sharp-witted, and insubordinate of animals. Wherefore he must
be bound with many bridles; in the first place, when he gets away from
mothers and nurses, he must be under the management of tutors on account
of his childishness and foolishness; then, again, being a freeman, he must
be controlled by teachers, no matter what they teach, and by studies; but
he is also a slave, and in that regard any freeman who comes in his way
may punish him and his tutor and his instructor, if any of them does anything
wrong; and he who comes across him and does not inflict upon him the punishment
which he deserves, shall incur the greatest disgrace; and let the guardian
of the law, who is the director of education, see to him who coming in
the way of the offences which we have mentioned, does not chastise them
when he ought, or chastises them in a way which he ought not; let him keep
a sharp look-out, and take especial care of the training of our children,
directing their natures, and always turning them to good according to the
law.

But how can our law sufficiently train the director of education.
himself; for as yet all has been imperfect, and nothing has been said either
clear or satisfactory? Now, as far as possible, the law ought to leave
nothing to him, but to explain everything, that he may be an interpreter
and tutor to others. About dances and music and choral strains, I have
already spoken both to the character of the selection of them, and the
manner in which they are to be amended and consecrated. But we have not
as yet spoken, O illustrious guardian of education, of the manner in which
your pupils are to use those strains which are written in prose, although
you have been informed what martial strains they are to learn and practise;
what relates in the first place to the learning of letters, and secondly,
to the lyre, and also to calculation, which, as we were saying, is needful
for them all to learn, and any other things which are required with a view
to war and the management of house and city, and, looking to the same object,
what is useful in the revolutions of the heavenly bodies-the stars and
sun and moon, and the various regulations about these matters which are
necessary for the whole state-I am speaking of the arrangements of; days
in periods of months, and of months in years, which are to be observed,
in order that seasons and sacrifices and festivals may have their regular
and natural order, and keep the city alive and awake, the Gods receiving
the honours due to them, and men having a better understanding about them:
all these things, O my friend, have not yet been sufficiently declared
to you by the legislator. Attend, then, to what I am now going to say:-We
were telling you, in the first place, that you were not sufficiently informed
about letters, and the objection was to this effect-that you were never
told whether he who was meant to be a respectable citizen should apply
himself in detail to that sort of learning, or not apply himself at all;
and the same remark holds good of the study of the lyre. But now we say
that he ought to attend to them. A fair time for a boy of ten years old
to spend in letters is three years; the age of thirteen is the proper time
for him to begin to handle the lyre, and he may continue at this for another
three years, neither more nor less, and whether his father or himself like
or dislike the study, he is not to be allowed to spend more or less time
in learning music than the law allows. And let him who disobeys the law
be deprived of those youthful honours of which we shall hereafter speak.
Hear, however, first of all, what the young ought to learn in the early
years of life, and what their instructors ought to teach them. They ought
to be occupied with their letters until they are to read and write; but
the acquisition of perfect beauty or quickness in writinig, if nature has
not stimulated them to acquire these accomplishments in the given number
of years, they should let alone. And as to the learning of compositions
committed to writing which are not set to the lyre, whether metrical or
without rhythmical divisions, compositions in prose, as they are termed,
having no rhythm or harmony-seeing how dangerous are the writings handed
down to us by many writers of this class-what will you do with them, O
most excellent guardians of the law? or how can the lawgiver rightly direct
you about them? I believe that he will be in great difficulty.

Cle. What troubles you, Stranger? and why are you so perplexed
in your mind?

Ath. You naturally ask, Cleinias, and to you and Megillus,
who are my partners in the work of legislation, I must state the more difficult
as well as the easier parts of the task.

Cle. To what do you refer in this instance?
Ath. I will tell you. There is a difficulty in opposing many
myriads of mouths.

Cle. Well, and have we not already opposed the popular voice
in many important enactments?

Ath. That is quite true; and you mean to imply, that the
road which we are taking may be disagreeable to some but is agreeable to
as many others, or if not to as many, at any rate to persons not inferior
to the others, and in company with them you bid me, at whatever risk, to
proceed along the path of legislation which has opened out of our present
discourse, and to be of good cheer, and not to faint.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. And I do not faint; I say, indeed, that we have a great
many poets writing in hexameter, trimeter, and all sorts of measures-some
who are serious, others who aim only at raising a laugh-and all mankind
declare that the youth who are rightly educated should be brought up in
them and saturated with them; some insist that they should be constantly
hearing them read aloud, and always learning them, so as to get by heart
entire poets; while others select choice passages and long speeches, and
make compendiums of them, saying that these ought to be committed to memory,
if a man is to be made good and wise by experience and learning of many
things. And you want me now to tell them plainly in what they are right
and in what they are wrong.

Cle. Yes, I do. Ath. But how can I in one word rightly comprehend
all of them? I am of opinion, and, if I am not mistaken, there is a general
agreement, that every one of these poets has said many things well and
many things the reverse of well; and if this be true, then I do affirm
that much learning is dangerous to youth.

Cle. How would you advise the guardian of the law to
act?
Ath. In what respect?
Cle. I mean to what pattern should he look as his guide in permitting
the young to learn some things and forbidding them to learn others. Do
not shrink from answering.

Ath. My good Cleinias, I rather think that I am
fortunate.
Cle. How so?
Ath. I think that I am not wholly in want of a pattern, for
when I consider the words which we have spoken from early dawn until now,
and which, as I believe, have been inspired by Heaven, they appear to me
to be quite like a poem. When I reflected upon all these words of ours.
I naturally felt pleasure, for of all the discourses which I have ever
learnt or heard, either in poetry or prose, this seemed to me to be the
justest, and most suitable for young men to hear; I cannot imagine any
better pattern than this which the guardian of the law who is also the
director of education can have. He cannot do better than advise the teachers
to teach the young these words and any which are of a like nature, if he
should happen to find them, either in poetry or prose, or if he come across
unwritten discourses akin to ours, he should certainly preserve them, and
commit them to writing. And, first of all, he shall constrain the teachers
themselves to learn and approve them, and any of them who will not, shall
not be employed by him, but those whom he finds agreeing in his judgment,
he shall make use of and shall commit to them the instruction and education
of youth. And here and on this wise let my fanciful tale about letters
and teachers of letters come to an end.

Cle. I do not think, Stranger, that we have wandered out
of the proposed limits of the argument; but whether we are right or not
in our whole conception, I cannot be very certain.

Ath. The truth, Cleinias, may be expected to become clearer
when, as we have often said, we arrive at the end of the whole discussion
about laws.

Cle. Yes.
Ath. And now that we have done with the teacher of letters,
the teacher of the lyre has to receive orders from us.

Cle. Certainly.
Ath. I think that we have only to recollect our previous discussions,
and we shall be able to give suitable regulations touching all this part
of instruction and education to the teachers of the
lyre.

Cle. To what do you refer?
Ath. We were saying, if I remember rightly, that the sixty-year-old
choristers of Dionysus were to be specially quick in their perceptions
of rhythm and musical composition, that they might be able to distinguish
good and bad imitation, that is to say, the imitation of the good or bad
soul when under the influence of passion, rejecting the one and displaying
the other in hymns and songs, charming the souls of youth, and inviting
them to follow and attain virtue by the way of imitation.

Cle. Very true.
Ath. And with this view, the teacher and the learner ought to
use the sounds of the lyre, because its notes are pure, the player who
teaches and his pupil rendering note for note in unison; but complexity,
and variation of notes, when the strings give one sound and the poet or
composer of the melody gives another-also when they make concords and harmonies
in which lesser and greater intervals, slow and quick, or high and low
notes, are combined-or, again, when they make complex variations of rhythms,
which they adapt to the notes of the lyre-all that sort of thing is not
suited to those who have to acquire a speedy and useful knowledge of music
in three years; for opposite principles are confusing, and create a difficulty
in learning, and our young men should learn quickly, and their mere necessary
acquirements are not few or trifling, as will be shown in due course. Let
the director of education attend to the principles concerning music which
we are laying down. As to the songs and words themselves which the masters
of choruses are to teach and the character of them, they have been already
described by us, and are the same which, when consecrated and adapted to
the different festivals, we said were to benefit cities by affording them
an innocent amusement.

Cle. That, again, is true.
Ath. Then let him who has been elected a director of music receive
these rules from us as containing the very truth; and may he prosper in
his office! Let us now proceed to lay down other rules in addition to the
preceding about dancing and gymnastic exercise in general. Having said
what remained to be said about the teaching of music, let us speak in like
manner about gymnastic. For boys and girls ought to learn to dance and
practise gymnastic exercises-ought they not?

Cle. Yes.
Ath. Then the boys ought to have dancing masters, and the girls
dancing mistresses to exercise them.

Cle. Very good.
Ath. Then once more let us summon him who has the chief concern
in the business, the superintendent of youth [i.e., the director of education];
he will have plenty to do, if he is to have the charge of music and
gymnastic.

Cle. But how will old man be able to attend to such great
charges?
Ath. O my friend, there will be no difficulty, for the law has
already given and will give him permission to select as his assistants
in this charge any citizens, male or female, whom he desires; and he will
know whom he ought to choose, and will be anxious not to make a mistake,
from a due sense of responsibility, and from a consciousness of the importance
of his office, and also because he will consider that if young men have
been and are well brought up, then all things go swimmingly, but if not,
it is not meet to say, nor do we say, what will follow, lest the regarders
of omens should take alarm about our infant state. Many things have been
said by us about dancing and about gymnastic movements in general; for
we include under gymnastics all military exercises, such as archery, and
all hurling of weapons, and the use of the light shield, and all fighting
with heavy arms, and military evolutions, and movements of armies, and
encampings, and all that relates to horsemanship. Of all these things there
ought to be public teachers, receiving pay from the state, and their pupils
should be the men and boys in the state, and also the girls and women,
who are to know all these things. While they are yet girls they should
have practised dancing in arms and the whole art of fighting-when grown-up
women, they should apply themselves to evolutions and tactics, and the
mode of grounding and taking up arms; if for no other reason, yet in case
the whole military force should have to leave the city and carry on operations
of war outside, that those who will have to guard the young and the rest
of the city may be equal to the task; and, on the other hand, when enemies,
whether barbarian or Hellenic, come from without with mighty force and
make a violent assault upon them, and thus compel them to fight for the
possession of the city, which is far from being an impossibility, great
would be the disgrace to the state, if the women had been so miserably
trained that they could not fight for their young, as birds will, against
any creature however strong, and die or undergo any danger, but must instantly
rush to the temples and crowd at the altars and shrines, and bring upon
human nature the reproach, that of all animals man is the most
cowardly!

Cle. Such a want of education, Stranger, is certainly an
unseemly thing to happen in a state, as well as a great
misfortune.

Ath. Suppose that we carry our law to the extent of saying
that women ought not to neglect military matters, but that all citizens,
male and female alike, shall attend to them?

Cle. I quite agree.
Ath. Of wrestling we have spoken in part, but of what I should
call the most important part we have not spoken, and cannot easily speak
without showing at the same time by gesture as well as in word what we
mean; when word and action combine, and not till then, we shall explain
clearly what has been said, pointing out that of all movements wrestling
is most akin to the military art, and is to be pursued for the sake of
this, and not this for the sake of wrestling.

Cle. Excellent.
Ath. Enough of wrestling; we will now proceed to speak of other
movements of the body. Such motion may be in general called dancing, and
is of two kinds: one of nobler figures, imitating the honourable, the other
of the more ignoble figures, imitating the mean; and of both these there
are two further subdivisions. Of the serious, one kind is of those engaged
in war and vehement action, and is the exercise of a noble person and a
manly heart; the other exhibits a temperate soul in the enjoyment of prosperity
and modest pleasures, and may be truly called and is the dance of peace.
The warrior dance is different from the peaceful one, and may be rightly
termed Pyrrhic; this imitates the modes of avoiding blows and missiles
by dropping or giving way, or springing aside, or rising up or falling
down; also the opposite postures which are those of action, as, for example,
the imitation of archery and the hurling of javelins, and of all sorts
of blows. And when the imitation is of brave bodies and souls, and the
action is direct and muscular, giving for the most part a straight movement
to the limbs of the body-that, I say, is the true sort; but the opposite
is not right. In the dance of peace what we have to consider is whether
a man bears himself naturally and gracefully, and after the manner of men
who duly conform to the law. But before proceeding I must distinguish the
dancing about which there is any doubt, from that about which there is
no doubt. Which is the doubtful kind, and how are the two to be distinguished?
There are dances of the Bacchic sort, both those in which, as they say,
they imitate drunken men, and which are named after the Nymphs, and Pan,
and Silenuses, and Satyrs; and also those in which purifications are made
or mysteries celebrated-all this sort of dancing cannot be rightly defined
as having either a peaceful or a warlike character, or indeed as having
any meaning whatever and may, I think, be most truly described as distinct
from the warlike dance, and distinct from the peaceful, and not suited
for a city at all. There let it lie; and so leaving it to lie, we will
proceed to the dances of war and peace, for with these we are undoubtedly
concerned. Now the unwarlike muse, which honours in dance the Gods and
the sons of the Gods, is entirely associated with the consciousness of
prosperity; this class may be subdivided into two lesser classes, of which
one is expressive of an escape from some labour or danger into good, and
has greater pleasures, the other expressive of preservation and increase
of former good, in which the pleasure is less exciting;-in all these cases,
every man when the pleasure is greater, moves his body more, and less when
the pleasure is less; and, again, if he be more orderly and has learned
courage from discipline he waves less, but if he be a coward, and has no
training or self-control, he makes greater and more violent movements,
and in general when he is speaking or singing he is not altogether able
to keep his body still; and so out of the imitation of words in gestures
the whole art of dancing has arisen. And in these various kinds of imitation
one man moves in an orderly, another in a disorderly manner; and as the
ancients may be observed to have given many names which are according to
nature and deserving of praise, so there is an excellent one which they
have given to the dances of men who in their times of prosperity are moderate
in their pleasures-the giver of names, whoever he was, assigned to them
a very true, and poetical, and rational name, when he called them Emmeleiai,
or dances of order, thus establishing two kinds of dances of the nobler
sort, the dance of war which he called the Pyrrhic, and the dance of peace
which he called Emmeleia, or the dance of order; giving to each their appropriate
and becoming name. These things the legislator should indicate in general
outline, and the guardian of the law should enquire into them and search
them out, combining dancing with music, and assigning to the several sacrificial
feasts that which is suitable to them; and when he has consecrated all
of them in due order, he shall for the future change nothing, whether of
dance or song. Thenceforward the city and the citizens shall continue to
have the same pleasures, themselves being as far as possible alike, and
shall live well and happily.

I have described the dances which are appropriate to noble bodies
and generous souls. But it is necessary also to consider and know uncomely
persons and thoughts, and those which are intended to produce laughter
in comedy, and have a comic character in respect of style, song, and dance,
and of the imitations which these afford. For serious things cannot be
understood without laughable things, nor opposites at all without opposites,
if a man is really to have intelligence of either; but he can not carry
out both in action, if he is to have any degree of virtue. And for this
very reason he should learn them both, in order that he may not in ignorance
do or say anything which is ridiculous and out of place-he should command
slaves and hired strangers to imitate such things, but he should never
take any serious interest in them himself, nor should any freeman or freewoman
be discovered taking pains to learn them; and there should always be some
element of novelty in the imitation. Let these then be laid down, both
in law and in our discourse, as the regulations of laughable amusements
which are generally called comedy. And, if any of the serious poets, as
they are termed, who write tragedy, come to us and say-"O strangers, may
we go to your city and country or may we not, and shall we bring with us
our poetry-what is your will about these matters?"-how shall we answer
the divine men? I think that our answer should be as follows:-Best of strangers,
we will say to them, we also according to our ability are tragic poets,
and our tragedy is the best and noblest; for our whole state is an imitation
of the best and noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truth
of tragedy. You are poets and we are poets, both makers of the same strains,
rivals and antagonists in the noblest of dramas, which true law can alone
perfect, as our hope is. Do not then suppose that we shall all in a moment
allow you to erect your stage in the agora, or introduce the fair voices
of your actors, speaking above our own, and permit you to harangue our
women and children, and the common people, about our institutions, in language
other than our own, and very often the opposite of our own. For a state
would be mad which gave you this licence, until the magistrates had determined
whether your poetry might be recited, and was fit for publication or not.
Wherefore, O ye sons and scions of the softer Muses, first of all show
your songs to the magistrates, and let them compare them with our own,
and if they are the same or better we will give you a chorus; but if not,
then, my friends, we cannot. Let these, then, be the customs ordained by
law about all dances and the teaching of them, and let matters relating
to slaves be separated from those relating to masters, if you do not
object.

Cle. We can have no hesitation in assenting when you put
the matter thus.

Ath. There still remain three studies suitable for freemen.
Arithmetic is one of them; the measurement of length, surface, and depth
is the second; and the third has to do with the revolutions of the stars
in relation to one another. Not every one has need to toil through all
these things in a strictly scientific manner, but only a few, and who they
are to be we will hereafter indicate at the end, which will be the proper
place; not to know what is necessary for mankind in general, and what is
the truth, is disgraceful to every one: and yet to enter into these matters
minutely is neither easy, nor at all possible for every one; but there
is something in them which is necessary and cannot be set aside, and probably
he who made the proverb about God originally had this in view when he said,
that "not even God himself can fight against necessity";-he meant, if I
am not mistaken, divine necessity; for as to the human necessities of which
the many speak, when they talk in this manner, nothing can be more ridiculous
than such an application of the words.

Cle. And what necessities of knowledge are there, Stranger,
which are divine and not human?

Ath. I conceive them to be those of which he who has no
use nor any knowledge at all cannot be a God, or demi-god, or hero to mankind,
or able to take any serious thought or charge of them. And very unlike
a divine man would he be, who is unable to count one, two, three, or to
distinguish odd and even numbers, or is unable to count at all, or reckon
night and day, and who is totally unacquainted with the revolution of the
sun and moon, and the other stars. There would be great folly in supposing
that all these are not necessary parts of knowledge to him who intends
to know anything about the highest kinds of knowledge; but which these
are, and how many there are of them, and when they are to be learned, and
what is to be learned together and what apart, and the whole correlation
of them, must be rightly apprehended first; and these leading the way we
may proceed to the other parts of knowledge. For so necessity grounded
in nature constrains us, against which we say that no God contends, or
ever will contend.

Cle. I think, Stranger, that what you have now said is very
true and agreeable to nature.

Ath. Yes, Cleinias, that is so. But it is difficult for
the legislator to begin with these studies; at a more convenient time we
will make regulations for them.

Cle. You seem, Stranger, to be afraid of our habitual ignorance
of the subject: there is no reason why that should prevent you from speaking
out.

Ath. I certainly am afraid of the difficulties to which
you allude, but I am still more afraid of those who apply themselves to
this sort of knowledge, and apply themselves badly. For entire ignorance
is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest
of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with an
ill bringing up, are far more fatal.

Cle. True.
Ath. All freemen, I conceive, should learn as much of these
branches of knowledge as every child in Egypt is taught when he learns
the alphabet. In that country arithmetical games have been invented for
the use of mere children, which they learn as a pleasure and amusement.
They have to distribute apples and garlands, us